3Series

Has anyone every tried using a single ear airpod pro and just calling the student?

Instructor has their own airpod pro in one ear.
Student has their own in one ear.
Call each other, stay on phone for 20-30min.

I'm talking about Pro, because it's in ear and has noise cancelling if you want to use that.

What are the cons of this?

Estoril

I used a wired and a Bluetooth set-up during Covid when we were doing Lead-Follow. The primary issue was the cell connection dropping out at 1-2 places on track. Once the connection is lost - you cannot reestablish it without pitting. Tracks tend to have spotty cell coverage, some being a little better than others.

We made-do the best we could given the unusual circumstances. But we lost connection >80% of the time.

ANGST

At this point I don't know why bluetooth communicators are not more common , I have a few good sets of earbuds that I could just pair with an instructor's ..... Maybe I will build one off a raspberry PI .

Have 2 bluetooth transmitters , one broadcasting as Instructor-BT and one as Student-BT , pair up, separate volume controls , and go .

I have the biggest issue with the speaker on the current communicators , when I put my helmet on it folds over that little part of my ear over my ear canal and I can't hear anything . Something in ear would be perfect.


ETA : apparently my "Tragus" is too big ....

ANGST

.... and you know what they say about a man with a large tragus ....

nineball

they buy a lot of q-tips?

PTSFX

pretty sure the con here is that there is a slight delay via a phone call. I use the below, and many of my students have said it’s the most clear communicator they’ve ever had with any instructor.

https://a.co/d/7BHoeLI

roadie13

Sena motorcycle communicators all the way...

Zhao

We tried using iphones for endurance racing for communicating with the driver : pit. We even planned for calls to get randomly dropped. It was a terrible setup for us because cell reception was wonky and calls did get dropped a lot, and even with trying to reconnect its almost impossible to pick up again with a racing glove on + is hugely distracting while on the track to try and do so. If you have good reception at the track it might work ok for you.

I just use one of these and it's simple, no one ever has a problem and we can hear each other great:

https://www.racecombyhms.com/item/tr...c-com-intercom

3Series

Yeah, I had a chatterbox, it gave up the ghost last year. Trac V3 is sold out at a lot of places and its just seems stupid high priced for what it is in 2024.
The HPDE market is so narrow, I just figured the there has to be something that's better out there if an iPhone (top end) is $1k and Amazon sells a million Bluetooth WFH headsets for $30 that are fantastic.
I saw the SENA's I just ordered a generic motorcycle comm, someone else recommend on an older thread. It shows up tonight. I think the mic is connected to the earpiece with a stiff connector unlike other motorcycle headsets where the mic is connected by lose wire.
I just want something where they can stuff the earpiece into the helmet and have it held in place with friction with the mic attached I think I'll blue tape the unit to the helmet instead of sticky tape or clips.

roadie13

The SENA set works really well for an HPDE weekend. I install it with some tape in the student's helmet at the beginning and it stays there for the duration, battery easily lasts a weekend. Crystal-clear communication once connected. Even works a few hundred yards distance, so you could do lead follow. It uses bluetooth to establish initial contact, thereafter it uses radio waves. Marvelous; all the students love it too.

The set comes with a microphone on a wire as well as a little boom for open-face helmets. Both work excellently.


The newer more powerful ones can have more than two sets connected and have a wider distance range, might be enough for some tracks.

dgrobs

He gets mistaken for an elephant because of ear size?

dgrobs

Yup, Trac Com for the win.

Have used mine with 100 students at least, and it still works as good as it did when new. Just keep a 6 pack of 9Vs' in the glove box and good for the season and then some....

Stay away from Chatterbox. Not sure why they are still being sold. Probably the price, but I see no other reason to buy that piece of crapola, and even that's not a good reason.

Estoril

I started carrying one in my pocket when instructing. That paid off 3 weeks ago when the battery died exiting Pit Out. Ug. Changed it at the apex of Turn 1 and back to the program, in progress.

dgrobs

Impressive…

3Series

Just used a generic Motorcycle communicator someone else recommended on Amazon. It was fantastic and $118.
Wireless Bluetooth, the thing tells you the battery level, worked all day, never turned it off. We'll see how long the battery lasts. I'm assuming it's cheap, but I also have been using a cheap Bluetooth headset from Amazon for working remotely and it's been going strong for 5+ years. Just through it out as the ear piece fabric was getting worn out.

It's also very compact and easy to tape onto a student's helmet.